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The Cistern is a hidden gym near the Joe Jamail Skatepark in Houston. It is an underground adventure like none other. It is the size of 1.5 football fields and has held drinking water for the City of Houston until 2007. The Cistern could hold 15 million gallons of water when at full capacity. There are 221 columns and when you yell your voice travels around for a full 17 seconds. Here are a few photos I took using no flash in night mode. Enjoy! For more information and a tour click here https://buffalobayou.org/visit/destination/the-cistern/

Spring time is a beautiful time of year. We come out of the freeze of winter and new life sprouts all around us. Birds sing, baby animals are born, and spring blossoms abound. Here are a few photos of Spring tree blossoms. I know one to be Redbuds, but the other three trees I am not sure of. If you know, please share in comments section.

I took a stroll through The Strand on Galveston Island today and practiced a little landscape and city scene photography along with a little evening beach photography. It was a lot of fun! I hope you enjoy the views as much as I enjoyed taking the photos.

Recently I have been experimenting with Winter tree photography. Catching different shadows, backgrounds, and angles. Winter provides a different setting because the trees are naked of their leaves. I really like these shots. I hope you do too.

Back somewhere around 1995, I taught school at Love Elementary in Houston I.S.D. where the famous reporter Dan Rather went to elementary school. During this time, I had Anthony Shore’s Daughter in my class. I still remember her and her sister’s name very well, but I will leave it out for their privacy. His oldest daughter, my student, was a fantastic young lady! She was a model student along with a few other students’ in my class. Suddenly, to my surprise, it all changed one day. I remember looking at her and her hair was a mess, unlike anything I had seen before regarding her appearance. She was scribbling on paper, sad, angry, and just not my model student. I knew something was wrong intuitively. I sensed it was home life issues because of prior parent conferences, I could tell Mr. Shore was strange. He had a look in his eye. The cold stare without a soul. Little did I know, he was already killing.

During the day, I tried several times to get her to talk to me, but she would not. With prior training in Criminal Justice, I learned interviewing techniques. One thing I knew, kids will talk to other kids, especially when they are silent with adults. At recess, I asked a couple of my other really great students to talk to her. I told them that Mr. Moyer suspected something bad. I explained to them what I thought could be happening such as styles of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. I gave them questions that I wanted them to ask her. Within minutes of them running out to the playground talking to her and asking her questions, they ran back to me with wide-eyes, hyper-ventilating, and saying, “Mr. Moyer! She said,”Her daddy is making her and her sister suck it.” My heart sank into my chest. My abuse suspicions were confirmed. I consoled my student and told her it would happen no more.

As I brought it to a few co-workers on my team, I found out one teacher on my team had a sister who was dating Mr. Shore. She told me something along the lines of, “You know. Sometimes kids make things up because they are mad.” I was shocked! It seemed that their was a protectionist attitude toward Mr. Shore, but I was not having it. I went to my supervising principal explained what happened and stated this has to go to Child Protective Services.

Child Protective Services and Houston Police took over the case and through testimony and trial Anthony Allen Shore was convicted of molesting his daughters. Yes, a real monster! The ultimate betrayal. This conviction required him to register as a sex offender and submit a DNA sample. From here, I understand a Houston Police detective was working cold cases one day, and looking for DNA matches. Apparently, there were several matches, because Anthony Allen Shore was not only a molester of his daughters, but also a murderer. A serial killer.

Anthony Allen Shore received his due punishment today, lethal injection, but for all involved this incident will remain with them for life. In my eyes, lethal injection is such an easy laid back way to go out. No pain. Just a nice shot to sleep and rest, and then a heart stopping agent. The pain and torture he inflicted on young girls was not commensurate to his punishment, nor was his extra 20 plus years of life, but this is the system we accept to deal with monsters. I read his final statement, and I do not believe he found peace. He did his best sociopathic move to inflict more pain on families and victims by saying he made his peace. He did not even make a final apology to his daughters, unless the news did not publish all of his final words, but perhaps he did privately if they wanted to hear it. If he were released to society today, he would start killing all over again. He was a tainted individual who knew no boundaries.

I hope that my student has found peace in her life and has been able to adjust to the past horrors. Her and her sister definitely did not deserve what they received from their father. I hope my story helps others to be aware and know those around them, so that they may pick up on changes that may indicate abuse. God knows that our children are abused in so many ways and face so many uphill battles in this modern society. I pray that we offer more counseling and do more in America to help those with mental issues. Serial killers are not born. They are made.

December 2017 brought us three inches of snow and January 2018 has brought us Arctic temperatures of nineteen, sleet, ice, and flurries with wind chills in teens. Being a sub-tropical climate this is quite rare for us, but I do enjoy Houston’s Arctic Tundra. It definite lends itself to a time to take photos that I would not normally have the opportunity to shoot.

Every year I try to hike on the first day of the year. This year it was extremely cold in Needville, Texas at Brazos Bend State Park. The hike started out at 32 degrees with a windchill somewhere between 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit. Survival was dependent on three layers for the legs, four layers for the upper body, and wool socks and insulated hiking boots. As the walk progressed throughout the three-hour hike I saw much wildlife and beautiful scenery. The wind blowing through the trees passing upon my face was like a freezer door open. And you know what? It was fantastic! Here are a few photos. Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!